Lake Powell Houseboat Trips

Sign on for a voyage of discovery to where legendary Glen Canyon and glistening Lake Powell blend to grandure through one hundred and eighty two miles of narrow canyon mazes and wide sparkling bays, where soaring crimson cliffs separate brilliant blue sky from crystal blue water.

With more shoreline than the entire west coast of the United States, in an area still wild and largely accessibe only by boat, Lake Powell becomes your gateway to adventure and learning. On one or a flotilla of houseboats the mysteries of a slick rock wilderness unfold through a series of campfire talks and easy canyon walks. Subjects range from two hundred million year old fossil sand dunes and dinosaur tracks to the trails of Spanish explorers and Mormon pioneer roads, from Rainbow Bridge and prehistoric Indian ruins and rock art to coal fired generating plants and southwest water usage; photo opportunities abound, fish are abundant, a painters paradise. All while traveling in the comfort of a houseboat through a wonderland of other worldly beauty.

Imagine standing on the top deck of a houseboat. A slight breeze in the cool early morning touches your face and hair, and to simply breathe the clear air is pleasure. You hear the hum of the motors and the lap of water on pontoons as you feel the motion of the boat easily cutting the lake into twin wakes.

Two and a half miles in front of you sunlit cliffs rise 2,000 feet above the water. Beyond them another four miles and 2,000 feet higher the Kaiparowits Plateau begins and stretches 50 miles to the north. To the rear the narrow slit where you exited Secret Canyon has disappeared in a jumble of rounded sandstone mounds above which the great dome of Navajo Mountain comes into view, it's 10,400 foot crest, dusted with snow and wreathed with cloud, is glowing. On either side the lake narrows and disappears around bends in what used to be the channel of the Colorado River and in both distances sun and cloud combine to spotlight cliffs and buttes with orange and gold and crimson.

Above, clouds turn pink and purple. Below, the rippled water is a kaleidoscope of flashing, flickering reflection. You turn slowly, trying to take in 360 degrees of three dimentional sensory overload. You breathe deeply, pick a spot, raise your camera and shoot, hoping, against the impossibility, that this small fragment will communicate the reality of living water, rock and sky.